The IBX the MTA, accidental Governor Kathy Hochul and the urbanist cult lobbyists love so much is going to require eminent domain to get it done.
This means over a decade of construction that's going to cause damages to homes and displacement of residents and also the destruction of the environment by razing trees and green space all long the transit line that will stretch from middle class Middle Queens to low area median income towns in South Brooklyn.
This transit plan must be terminated.
Ridgewood is losing its edge.
Some residents of the increasingly trendy nabe are furious as “corporate slop” Whole Foods plans to come to town, opening what could be its first outpost in Queens.
The upscale Amazon-owned grocery store chain recently inked a 15-year lease on the former Beaux-Arts historic bank building at 55-60 Myrtle Ave., according to documents filed with the city on Wednesday.
The grocer takeover could mark the first Queens location for Whole Foods, though another location is slated to open in Long Island City in 2028. There are no operating shops in Staten Island or the Bronx.
The Ridgewood store will take up the entire 28,000-square-foot first floor of the three-story former bank on Myrtle Avenue, which housed a Rite Aid until the chain shuttered for good this year.
But some observers fumed about the announcement, expressing fears the “gentrification indicator” could be the final nail in the coffin for the hipster mecca.
“Oh man. The Brooklynization of Queens has begun,” Asad Dandia, a historian and walking tour leader, wrote on X.
“A Ridgewood Whole Foods… It might be over in ways I’ve never thought possible,” one user wrote on X.
Last night in Malba, a large group of individuals from outside my district conducted an illegal 'takeover' of a quiet residential street at approximately 12:30am. This is not the first time it's happened.
— Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (@VickieforNYC) November 23, 2025
A private security guard attempted to calm the situation -- he was… pic.twitter.com/sSL7aWuufC
From the way @NYCCouncil member Paladino explains this and what this community experienced, it seems @ZohranKMamdani Department of Community Safety already exists and the NYPD treated this as a "social worker" response situation instead of the crimes being committed at the time… https://t.co/XI5fgnGzik
— JQ LLC (@ImpunityCity) November 24, 2025
A rowdy mob beat a Queens couple and set a car ablaze when the residents and other locals tried to stop a wild car meet-up in their neighborhood early Sunday, according to the victims and video.
The disturbing attack occurred when a bunch of out-of-control drivers descended on South Drive and 141st Street in Malba, doing donuts and speeding over lawns around 12:30 a.m.
“When I came out, I said, ‘Bro, you gotta get the f–k off my property,’ and that’s when it all started,” victim Blake Ferrer told The Post.
Video shows a group of about a dozen ruffians kicking, punching and stomping Ferrer, who was left with a broken nose and ribs. His wife was also hit.
Ferrer was “lucky he wasn’t killed,” said disgusted City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino, who represents the neighborhood.
Larry Rusch, 59, a local whose car was set on fire, said it “was a complete melee.”
From left to right: Caban, Won, Schulman, Gutierrez, Lee, Williams all seek to royally fuck over 3-family homeowners
“After they bankrupt these buildings with rent control and green mandates like Local Law 97, politically connected nonprofits will buy them up on behalf of the city for conversion to public housing.”The role of progressive-approved NGOs as oligarch-controlled partners to the DSA’s goal of a “Red Vienna” moment must not be ignored.
Remember when Zohran proclaimed he would "Trump-proof" New York City as Mayor, this is the reason why he never will.
Mayor Eric Adams may be on a visit to Israel, but Monday he left Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani a headache. He increased the budget for city government spending in the current fiscal year by about $2 billion to $118 billion, bequeathing a projected $4.7 billion deficit to be closed before the 2027 budget is adopted next summer. And he offered no plans to deal with federal aid cuts that could reach billions of dollars. The November report provides an update on where the city stands financially with the current fiscal year and the three future years it is required to project. Mamdani will have to propose his own budget by Feb. 1, a month after taking office.
The mayor’s added spending included new commitments Adams has been touting in recent weeks including money to start adding 5,000 additional police officers — while Mamdani has said he wants to keep the police force at its current level of about 34,000 officers.
Adams’ move came in for criticism from outgoing Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Queens) and finance chair Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn), who called it irresponsible to saddle future budgets with money for new police officers without addressing the fact that the city is unable to keep staffing at current levels because it can’t retain officers. The mayor also increased money for rental assistance and expanded a caregiver program for elderly residents by 3,000 spots. The mayor also increased expected revenues in November for the first time in his four years in office, adding a little more than $400 million for 2026. And he says he is leaving the city in good financial shape. “Over the course of four on-time, annual budgets, our administration has delivered for working-class New Yorkers time and again, and this November financial plan update is another example of how our strong fiscal management is making New York City safer, more affordable, and improving New Yorkers’ quality of life,” he said in a statement. NYPD officers arrest an anti-ICE protester outside the Federal Building in Lower Manhattan.
Budget experts don’t agree. The Citizens Budget Commission responds that the administration is underestimating costs by as much as $4 billion, including at least $1 billion for city-funded housing vouchers and $600 million for homeless shelters. And police overtime is almost always higher than projected in the budget. “This plan simply reaffirms that Mayor-elect Mamdani’s first budget proposal will have to close a $5 billion to $8 billion budget gap, prepare for federal hits, and fund progress on his priorities,” CBC President Andrew Rein said.
Wondering if the IBX will improve your commute to the EFMR or 7 trains? Here's a video that illustrates the very impractical transfer. pic.twitter.com/yz0jWwcM3f
— Juniper Park Civic (@junipercivic) November 12, 2025
Pressure was on the MTA Thursday night to end or change plans for the IBX in Queens, as a number of local residents claimed the nearly $6 billion light-rail is “not needed or wanted” in their neighborhoods.
Over 100 Middle Village and nearby residents filled seats inside Christ the King High School’s auditorium on Nov. 6 to voice their opinions on the project, which centers on the construction of a 14-mile light-rail that would have a direct connection from Queens to Brooklyn without touching Manhattan.
MTA representatives at the meeting said the train, which already entered its environmental review phase last month and is in design contract, will be beneficial for residents because it will provide fast and direct transit service between the two boroughs.
“We’ve noticed there is significant travel demand between and among Brooklyn and Queens,” said Jordan Smith, IBX project director, adding that environmental review is a milestone for the project. “It’s a process that requires the MTA to take a hard look at what potential environmental impacts could result from the IBX project.”
While the MTA tried to focus the meeting on environmental scoping — the act of analyzing potential environmental impacts — attendees overwhelmingly voiced their opposition to the entire project, or at least the parts of the railway that would run through their neighborhoods.
At the top of the list of concerns was upzoning, which would likely attract more people to the relatively quiet parts of northern Queens.
“There will be upzoning with the City of Yes, and now with the proposals that just passed, high-density housing at market rate can get built, so it’s going to destroy the neighborhood,” said Lee Rottenberg, a Middle Village resident. “When we bought our house here, we knew it was a two-fare zone. We didn’t want to live near a subway station.”
City of Yes is a zoning reform that allows more housing to be built in places where it was historically not permitted. This can include the creation of basement apartments, conversion of commercial space into residential units and new construction. The goal is to address affordable housing concerns in NYC.
The initiative aims to create approximately 82,000 new homes over the next 15 years.
Sure it's a doctored photo made by his fans but I think this will come back to haunt him.
New York City voters approved ballot proposals 2, 3, and 4, which are aimed at fast-tracking affordable housing developments, according to the Associated Press.
Over 50% of New York City renters and around 45% of homeowners pay more than 30% of their yearly salary toward housing, according to the Yes on Affordable Housing Coalition.
Proposition 2 creates two alternatives to the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), the seven-month process for determining how land is used. Not all land in the city goes through ULURP, but zoning changes like affordable housing “must go through public review and approval,” according to the Department of City Planning.
The proposition, which would fast-track affordable housing applications at the City Planning Commission (CPC) or Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA), effectively removes the City Council from the review process.
Publicly financed affordable housing projects will now be subject to a 90-day review by the BSA, rather than the seven-month process. The CPC will review applications from the 12 communities with the lowest affordable housing rates in New York City within 30 to 45 days.
Proposition 3 is meant to simplify the approval for smaller infrastructure projects by also keeping the City Council out of the review process. It would create an Expedited Land Use Review Procedure (ELURP), which would involve a 90-day review from the local community board, borough president, and CPC.
Proposition 4 establishes the Affordable Housing Appeals Board. Currently, the City Council has the final say in affordable housing projects, with only the mayor able to veto. The new board will have the power to veto the City Council. The borough presidents, City Council speaker, and mayor will all be on the board.
Advocates argue that removing the City Council from the process will help create more affordable, smaller housing quickly, especially in neighborhoods that lack it. Councilmembers, however, say that removing them from the process will give developers too much power and take away theirs.
In a historic victory, 34-year-old democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani was projected to become New York City’s 111th mayor on Tuesday night — the first Muslim candidate ever elected to the highest office in America’s largest city.
ABC and NBC called the NYC Mayor’s Race for Mamdani just after 9:35 p.m., with roughly 75% of the vote counted. With almost all precincts now reported, Mamdani had slightly over 50% of the vote (1,012,850) over independent former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who nabbed 41.6% (837,398), according to unofficial results from the city Board of Elections. This election had a historic turnout, with more than 2 million votes cast — the highest number in a mayoral election since 1969.
Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, who remained in the race until the very end despite immense pressure from Cuomo and others to drop out, came in third place with 7.16% (144,123).
Mamdani will take office as mayor on New Year’s Day, succeeding Eric Adams, who dropped out of the general election amid low poll numbers in late September and had recently endorsed Cuomo. The mayor-to-be, currently a Queens Assembly member, will also be the second-youngest mayor in the city’s history; Hugh Grant, who served between 1889 and 1892, was the youngest in history, having entered office at just 31 years of age.
A family feud over a notable property in Hollis has escalated into a community issue over protecting historical homes in Southeast Queens.
Marie Ashley, who was once the resident at the old Ketcham Farmhouse, a historical home that is at least 180 years old, was evicted from the residence, located at 190-21 Hollis Ave. on Wednesday.
Ashley told the Chronicle that when her parents retired in the 1990s she took responsibility for a home that her mother bought with her eldest sibling and has paid for everything from the mortgage to property taxes to landscaping, maintenance and repairs.
Since living in the home Ashley said she has helped out relatives and friends and friends of friends who faced homelessness and offered them a room at the historical house that her older sister Grace would later also assume responsibility for.
For the past few years she has been trying to landmark the property with its Italianate exterior, which is believed to be one of the two first homes to be built in Hollis. She held a rally to draw awareness about the property on Monday.
The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission said that the David and Mary Oakley Ketcham House may merit consideration as an individual city landmark in a letter dated Oct. 2, 2023 to Ashley.
Despite her and her sister’s efforts, her family wants to demolish the home to build six two-family houses.
“You can’t replace this history,” said Ashley at the rally.
The Ketcham family was a prominent family in Queens that helped to develop much of the borough from the 17th to the 20th centuries, according to Ashley, who is also the head of the Hollis Preservation Association.
May Callahan Flores, the original “Gibson Girl” in artist Dana Gibson’s illustrations of the feminine ideal, and her husband, Frederic Flores, are believed to have also lived in the home as early as 1924, added Ashley, who believes the home may also have been a passage on the Underground Railroad.
Paul Graziano, a land preservation expert, said the house is the progenitor for the entire community.
“Architecturally, it is very important, historically it is very important,” said Graziano at the protest. “That it could be demolished tomorrow is extremely concerning.”
Community Board 12 also supports preserving the house, which Ashley says has brought business to the neighborhood via her efforts in working with location scouts who helped get the home featured in commercials, TV shows and movies.
“Community Board 12 ... absolutely supports the designation of the Ketcham Farmhouse,” Graziano said in a letter sent to LPC. “In the 60-year history of the commission, we have 18 individual landmarks and one historic district — Addisleigh Park.”
Members of the Queens County Farm Museum and the Bayside Historical Society were also at the rally.
Ashley told the Chronicle that a review of her and her sister’s financials shows they invested about $1.8 million in the home.
Ashley said she has been pushed out of the home because a different older brother and her father, who obtained a majority share in the house in the 2010s, took her to landlord tenant court over the property due to their desire to make money off it.
She said a developer, which created an LLC with her family members, would create the six two-family homes in exchange for one of the homes later being given to the developer.
Graziano said that under the City of Yes housing directive, the property could end up being a building for about 20 housing units because of the huge lot size and its falling within a transit-oriented development zone.
Ashley said she was not a tenant in the home, that her mother gave her power of attorney for any transactions regarding the home before passing in 2021 and she didn’t learn about the LLC until some time after the funeral when the family was still grieving.
Graziano said he looked into the property records of the home and it appears that Ashley’s father also refinanced the home about three times. He could not be reached.
Ashley said she and her sister were unaware of the refinancing and received no money from it.
WHO: Civic and preservation groups, members of Community Board 12, concerned individuals A press conference to explain efforts to preserve the Ketcham House of Hollis, Queens
WHERE: 190-21 Hollis Avenue, Hollis, Queens
WHEN: Monday, August 4, 11am 190-21 Hollis Avenue AKA the Ketcham Farmhouse is one of the most significant remaining mid-19th century farmhouses still standing in New York City.
The building, which is at least 180 years old, is in excellent condition, with much of its original vernacular Italianate exterior details intact.
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has already determined that “the David & Mary Oakley Ketcham House may merit consideration as an individual New York City Landmark” as per correspondence dated October 2, 2023
This is due to both the extant architectural expression of the exterior of the building and its siting in the landscape; and the direct connection to David Ketcham (also spelled Ketchum) and the Ketcham family, one of the most important in the development and governance of Queens County from the 17th to 20th centuries, who purchased the building and farm in 1849.
As early as 1924, the original “Gibson Girl” May Callahan Flores and her husband, Frederic Flores, a well-known local builder who constructed several houses with his brother Charles in what is now the Douglaston Historic District, may have lived in the Ketcham Farmhouse; by 1933, they had definitively purchased it and lived their until her death in 1953. The property did not change hands again until 1967.
Since Marie and Grace Ann Ashley’s tenure at the Ketcham Farmhouse began in 1991, their efforts to save and restore the building and its grounds have been impressive, resulting in the interest shown by the Landmarks Preservation Commission as previously stated. The designation of the Ketcham Farmhouse as a local individual landmark is crucial to the interpretation of Hollis, New York from its inception to the present day.
It is – literally – one of the most important historic buildings if not the most important historic building still standing and, if demolished, would result in a permanent loss to the citizens of Hollis, Jamaica, Queens County and New York City. More history here:theketchamhouse.
This house just happens to be in right at the end of the zone of the Jamaica Neighborhood Plan rezoning that's currently in the early phase for approval for developing higher residential buildings. Or as I like to call it "The Jamaica Of Yes"-JQ LLC
It seems to be falling on deaf ears, no matter who you complain to. Nothing is being done.
Dark-horse socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani staged a stunning upset Tuesday night by knocking off former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic mayoral primary.
“Tonight we made history,” Mamdani told supporters at his victory party after midnight. “In the words of Nelson Mandela, ‘It always seems impossible until it is done.’ My friends, we have done it. I will be your Democratic nominee for the mayor of New York City.”
The 33-year-old Queens assemblyman defied polls and expectations as he notched a likely insurmountable 7-point lead over Cuomo, the three-term governor who hoped to make a political comeback after resigning in disgrace in 2021.
“Tonight is his night. He deserved it, he won,” a seemingly shell-shocked Cuomo, 67, said as he conceded to Mamdani.
The first round of the ranked-choice voting contest had Mamdani ahead with 43.51% of votes, followed by Cuomo’s 36.42% and city Comptroller Brad Lander’s 11.31%, Board of Elections unofficial results show. Mamdani carried roughly 432,000 votes to Cuomo’s 362,000, the results show.
The state lawmaker didn’t crack 50% of votes, so the contest will still be decided July 1 once the other rounds of ranked-choice votes are calculated.
But the first-round totals still put the avowed democratic socialist within sight of becoming New York City’s next mayor.
Cuomo conceded he lost the primary as he addressed his campaign’s watch party — and signaled he may not run in the November general election on an independent line, as widely assumed.
“Tonight was not our night,” Cuomo said, as he praised Mamdani’s grassroots campaign, which mobilized young, far-left voters with catchy campaign promises and slogans focusing on affordability.
“It’s affordability, stupid,” quipped longtime New York City political operative Kevin McCabe, in a reference to Bill Clinton, about the issue that decided the race.
A win by Mamdani is bound to have sweeping impacts beyond the Big Apple and signal the rising power of the Democrats’ progressive wing, especially over aging party stalwarts such as Cuomo.
His near-insurmountable lead hints he could be replicating what his backer and fellow progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did in 2018, as she ran as a charismatic outsider to topple entrenched Democrat Joe Crowley — only he did it across the whole city, a political veteran told The Post.
Cuomo could barely be seen actually on the campaign trail as he relied on his name recognition, backing of powerful unions and attacks against Mamdani’s thin legislative record and ample history of criticizing Israel.
The scandal-scarred ex-governor entered the race in March as the clear frontrunner, but saw his polling lead steadily chipped away by Mamdani, who waged a social media-friendly campaign heavy on proposed freebies — which he plans to pay for by hiking taxes on billionaires and businesses.
“He should’ve learned a lesson from the terrible, Rose Garden race that Joe Crowley ran against AOC. Like Crowley, Cuomo was arrogant and grossly underestimated his opponent,” said Democratic operative Ken Frydman.
Eighteen months after a five-alarm fire gutted a Queens apartment building, dozens of displaced tenants remain locked out of their homes — and now, state lawmakers are proposing legislation to hold landlords accountable for prolonged repair delays across New York City.
The fire ignited just before noon on Dec. 20, 2023, at 43-09 47th Ave. in Sunnyside, as residents prepared for the holiday season. Investigators determined the blaze was caused by a contractor hired by building owner A&E Real Estate. The contractor was illegally using a blowtorch during construction work.
What unfolded in Sunnyside has become a symbol of a broader crisis. Across the five boroughs, tenants displaced by fires often wait months — or even years — to return home, as landlords delay essential repairs and face few consequences. The Sunnyside case has galvanized lawmakers to push for stricter enforcement and firm deadlines to accelerate recovery and protect tenants left in housing limbo.
For Koenig, reentering the housing market after more than a decade in a regulated apartment has been financially and emotionally overwhelming.
“It was a perfect storm,” she said. “You’ve got the holidays, housing crisis, inflation.”
In the aftermath of the fire, A&E Real Estate offered displaced tenants six-month temporary relocation license agreements, allowing them to rent units in other A&E-owned buildings at the same rate they had paid in Sunnyside. Under mounting pressure from elected officials and community members, the company later extended the agreements twice — each time for an additional six months.
But tenant Lauren Koenig said most residents turned down the offers, noting that the available apartments were located far from their Sunnyside neighborhood — in the Bronx or deep into Queens — effectively uprooting them from the community they had long called home.
“Only about 25 people took the deal, because it’s a raw deal,” Koenig said. “I didn’t take it.”
Koenig said tenants had repeatedly asked A&E to offer alternate housing in its other Sunnyside properties, but the company was not responsive. As a result, she spent nearly a year without stable housing, relying on the generosity of friends and moving between apartments as she searched for something suitable in the area.
“I don’t have kids — I only have to take care of myself,” she said. “I can’t imagine the pain of trying to do this while caring for an elderly parent, or with a newborn, young children, or pets. I cannot imagine what others went through.”
Koenig eventually secured an apartment nearby, but it came at a steep cost: $3,100 per month — $500 more than her previous rent-stabilized unit — amounting to a $6,000 annual increase.
In response, an A&E spokesperson said the company had only a limited number of vacant units in Sunnyside and insisted it “did its best” to keep displaced residents in the neighborhood. While acknowledging the hardship tenants faced, the spokesperson called the situation “imperfect” and maintained that the company’s options were limited.
Melissa Orlando, a market-rate tenant who was displaced by the fire, said she immediately found another apartment in the area because she had a young son and didn’t want to “bounce around” from place to place. Furthermore, she was going from one market rate unit to another, so the price difference wasn’t vast. However, many tenants with rent stabilized and rent controlled units could not afford comparable apartments at the new price.
“Fortunately, I had the means to go and find a new place to live, but the rent-stabilized and rent-controlled tenants in that building are here, there and everywhere, scattered, all over the city,” Orlando said. “A lot of them have been in that building for very long time… and if you’re in something that was stabilized or rent-controlled and now to have to go out into the market, that’s a serious shock.”
On the day of the fire, Orlando heard sirens but smelled no smoke. She left her apartment only after checking the Citizen app, grabbing whatever essentials she could. At the time, she assumed she would be able to return home later that evening.
In the shock of watching the fire rip through the building, Orlando admitted thinking that she might be able to re-enter her apartment that evening.
In the days immediately following the fire, Orlando said A&E appeared responsive, setting up a temporary office across the street, distributing holiday gifts and meals to impacted families. But that initial cooperation quickly faded. After Christmas, Orlando said, A&E’s tone shifted — and interactions with tenants became increasingly tense.
“Every step of the way it’s been a fight with them,” she said.
Orlando also said the alternative accommodation offered by A&E was in “far-flung places” where she didn’t feel safe walking at night.
Nearly 18 months later, no repair work has begun on the building, despite repeated calls from tenants, elected officials, and city agencies. The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development is now suing A&E to compel them to begin restoration.
NYC Council Member Julie Won has penned an open letter criticizing the owners of a Sunnyside apartment complex damaged by a five-alarm fire last December for allowing the area surrounding the site to become a “dumping ground” over the past several months.
Won addressed the letter to A&E Real Estate, the landlord of an apartment building at 43-09 47th Ave., severely damaged by fire on Dec. 20 last year.
She accused A&E of allowing litter, trash and human waste to build up around the perimeter of the building over the last few months, writing that she has personally seen Sunnyside residents wading through bottles filled with urine, bags filled with waste and other forms of trash.
Won described the situation as “an egregious health hazard and profoundly unsanitary” and added that the problem partly stems from security workers at the building having no access to port-a-potties or trash cans.
She cited NYC Admin. Code 16-118, which states that property owners and landlords are required to keep public areas near a building in a clean and sanitary condition, including sidewalks and the first 18 inches of road by the sidewalk.
“A&E has not adhered to this law, instead allowing the sidewalk under the scaffolding to go into disrepair and allow litter to accumulate even on the road outside the building,” Won said in the letter. “This presents unsanitary conditions and a possible fire hazard.”
A spokesperson for Won said the issue dates back to at least the start of the summer, stating that the Council Member has regularly sent Department of Sanitation and ACE cleaning teams to clean up the area.
However, the spokesperson said the current state of the building is encouraging people to dump trash and garbage underneath the scaffolding, meaning that the area quickly becomes litter-strewn after each cleaning.
Won has urged A&E to dedicate time and resources to keeping the public-facing areas of the building clean and free of litter, while she has also asked the real estate company to provide overnight port-a-potty access to security workers on a daily basis.
Won has requested a response from A&E by Oct. 15.
I like to call this the Felix The Cat building, because it looks like his magic bag of tricks made it.
It took four decades, but residents of Southeast Queens and the elected officials who represent them say their neighborhoods are finally getting the policing they deserve.
NYPD officials and elected officials said last week that since the new 116th Precinct finally opened in December to police the neighborhoods of Springfield Gardens, Brookville, Laurelton, and Rosedale, response times in adjacent precincts are down and the new cops are beginning to address long-time local complaints.
Speaking before the City Council on Thursday, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that response times in the two precincts that used to split the area now covered by the 116th are significantly down.
“We have seen great results, I would say, in terms of the decrease in response times since that command opened up,” Tisch said. “We are pleased with what we are seeing in terms of the trends in response times.”
In the 105th Precinct, response times have been cut by more than half. Before the 116th opened, 105th Precinct cops took an average of 21 minutes and three seconds to respond. Now, it takes them, on average, eight minutes and 38 seconds.
Response times for the 113th Precinct have also decreased by a little over four minutes, down from 20 minutes and 48 seconds to 16 minutes and 19 seconds on average.
The new precinct is staffed by 199 people, including two captains, seven lieutenants, 20 sergeants, 147 police officers and detectives and 23 civilians.
The Eagle reached out to the NYPD for response times for 116th Precinct and whether or not those staffing levels are expected to grow. The NYPD’s press office referred the Eagle back to Tisch’s Thursday comments, which did not answer the questions.
Tisch on Thursday was asked about the 116th during a City Council budget hearing by the local councilmember, Selvana Brooks-Powers, who is happy with the results the precinct has brought so far.
“Response times [being] down is something that's significant,” she told the Eagle. “That's an area that the community, for many years, complained about. At times, there were people who would call my office and feel like calling the precinct was a waste of time because of how long it would take. I don't hear those complaints right now…the data around it supports what we're feeling on the ground.”
Before the 116th opened, the 105th and 113th split the large chunk of Southeast Queens, meaning cops were travelling large distances to respond to calls.
“If there was a big situation happening in the southern part of the community, they would have to get there from the far end of their confines,” Brooks-Powers said. “But right now, this is a precinct that's within our community, so naturally they're going to be able to respond much more quickly.”
Brooks-Powers said she is happy with the community and policing efforts from the new precinct, as well as the management of the station from its inaugural commanding officer, Jean Beauvoir.
“They've been also taking steps to be more community oriented,” she said. “I've seen firsthand the work that they've done to really combat a lot of the double parking that we experience along the Merritt Boulevard corridor, in particular.”
Shortly after the city Parks Department moved to evict Ridgewood’s Sunset Community Garden, it said it will stick around.
The group behind the garden at Onderdonk and Willoughby avenues said Wednesday that the New York County Supreme Court has granted a temporary restraining order against Parks and GreenThumb, the agency’s program that supports hundreds of gardens in the city.
Parks had issued a termination notice last month after it found the group out of compliance with community garden rules for requiring new members to affirm its political and ideological views. Those who wish to join the garden are required to uphold a set of “community values” that includes rejections of Zionism, homophobia, transphobia, racism and sexism.
The agency said it had been working with the group since last September to address violations.
Members say the city also tried to remove a memorial honoring transgender activist Cecilia Gentili, for whom the garden has been renamed Jardin de Santa Cecilia. Parks said the altar did not qualify for permanent installation and that, although it had suggested ways to keep it on display, the group refused.
“As Pride begins, this victory makes clear: Our lives, art, and voices are not violations. They are human rights,” group leaders said in a press release. “Pride is a riot they can’t silence, and this garden is a home they can’t take away from us.”
A Parks spokesperson said the agency was notified Tuesday that a garden member had filed an order to show cause for a TRO to enjoin Parks from ending the garden’s license agreement. The TRO was signed the next day and will remain in effect until July 17, when the court is set to hear arguments from both sides regarding next steps, the agency said.
According to the group, the court determined there was a “likelihood of success” on the merits of its allegations of violations of the city’s Human Rights Law and the First Amendment. It said in the release that the city falsely labeled its community values discriminatory and demanded that its license be reinstated and the altar recognized as protected speech.
“This ruling is a lifeline for our community,” garden leaders said.
Funny thing about this is that the Parks Dept tried to negotiate with them for their alter for an activist who never lived in the area and they refused to cooperate and how they are such freedom fighters they think it's right for people to sign a pledge in fealty to their beliefs to help maintain the garden. That's not how community gardens or how this country works.
City officials told amNewYork on Tuesday that cyclists and pedestrians will finally have their own lanes on the Ed Koch-Queensboro Bridge, ending a years-long controversy that had the two groups sharing a narrow path on the vehicle-heavy span.
Starting May 18, the north outer roadway of the Queensboro Bridge will be used exclusively for cyclists, and the south outer roadway, which is currently a vehicle lane, will become a dedicated space for pedestrians.
The Queensboro Bridge, which connects
Queens to Midtown, is the only city-owned bridge above the East River
without separate paths for pedestrians and cyclists. Currently, the
north outer roadway of the bridge is a shared space that crushes both
pedestrians and cyclists together in a tight, 11-foot lane.
Advocates (aka lobbyists) have fought to open a separate pedestrian path, citing dangerous overcrowding that has led to conflicts among cyclists, pedestrians and micromobility users. Manhattan Community Board 6 even passed a resolution in October calling on the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) to open the path without delay and “without regard to delays of construction,” which was being done on the bridge’s upper level last year.
However, once the south outer roadway opens for foot traffic, the bridge’s pedestrian and cycling space will double while eliminating space for vehicles.
he new pathway was supposed to open sooner but Mayor Eric Adams, at first, delayed the celebration to ensure he and his team were fully briefed, and the new layout did not negatively impact traffic, a City Hall spokesperson explained.
The double-decker Queensboro Bridge was built in 1909. Adams cited the span’s history by saying it has connected New Yorkers between Manhattan and Queens for 100 years while offering “breathtaking views” of the cityscape.
“Now, our administration will make it even easier and safer to do so,” Mayor Adams said. “The more we make it safe to walk and bike, the more people utilize their bikes, and thanks to new cycling infrastructure in communities near the bridge, more and more pedestrians and cyclists are utilizing the Queensboro Bridge. Today’s announcement doubling the space available for pedestrians and cyclists builds off those upgrades and is a win-win for everyday New Yorkers.”
